Professional identity of Mongolian adult learning facilitators: Biographical perspective

Abstract

Adult learning professionals lack a unified identity due to the diversity of adult learning and education, which poses challenges to recognizing adult learning professionals and may lead to a fragmented focus on their professional development. However, a coherent and unified professional identity can be determined by referring to adult learning professionals' specific roles and sub-fields. Hence, how adult learning facilitators, who belong to a non-formal sub-field, conceptualize themselves as professionals may be an example of coherent, yet unified, professional identity. Moreover, it is essential to know how adult learning facilitators understand themselves as professionals because this knowledge provides a framework for facilitators to construct their own ideas of being professional. Thus, this research aims to bring insights to the questions of how adult learning facilitators became professionals, how they define their profession, how they determine themselves as professionals and how they perceive their future in the professional context. Thirty-five adult learning facilitators were interviewed using semi-structured interviews with biographical perspectives. Results revealed that adult learning facilitators seem to have a conflicted identity resulting from a gap between ideal and real. Concerns about current qualification and competences were also articulated. Findings implied that professional development programmes for adult learning facilitators need to pay close attention to identity formation, concerns about appropriate qualifications, and adequate support for professionalism through systematic policy-making.